500 in the Green 7-Day Challenge

So, here we are with another challenge. If you want to join me in this one, feel free to send me a message on Twitter. I am starting this one this Sunday, March 6th. Anyway, the purpose of this challenge is to remain at least 500 calories in the green each day according to MyFitnessPal. Depending on your level of regular daily activity, it may be more difficult than you might think. At least, it is for me.

Why Do I Do These Challenges?

While it would be fun to engage my readers, I am doing this more for myself than anything. When I have the mental picture that anyone can see my progress, it adds a bit more motivation to succeed. After all, I don’t want to look like I am talking out my ass. You are my inspiration, as well as my children, to reach a greater level of fitness. This is why all of my profiles are always set to public. You can monitor my food diary in MyFitnessPal for any given day.

Why 500 Calories?

Personally, MyFitnessPal is set up for a two-pound loss per week. Since I normally spend most of my day sitting at a computer, I am only allowed 1750-ish calories per day. By keeping at least 500 calories in the green, I should be able to burn at least three pounds per week. In reality, I know I can do more since recently I lost 10 pounds in seven days.

How Will I Accomplish This Goal?

Next week it’ll be a bit easier for me to accomplish this goal since everyone in the house is going on a diet. This means no more pigging out at dinner or excessive nightly snacks – my biggest weakness.

Physical Activity
I’ve already been increasing my physical activity, especially since my brother decided to duel me in weight loss. This has been fun as we try to one-up the other while giving each other words of encouragement. If you can find a workout buddy, I would suggest getting one. It can help you stay focused, especially if you’re as competitive as we are.

Foods
I am going to stick to my normal breakfasts and lunches. However, we’ll be changing up the dinner and snacks to promote a more balanced diet. For example, I love single-serving tuna fish packets for snacks. I am also going to incorporate more berries into my breakfasts. One of the most balanced mornings you can have is two-packets of Cream of Wheat and a cup of mixed berries.

Paying for Snacks
When shooting for remaining 500 calories in the green, I am going to work harder on paying for snacks. If I want that serving of Reece’s Peanutbutter eggs, I need to at least play 15 minutes of the Xbox Kinect.

The Tools I Will Use
If you view the “My Tools” page listed above, you’ll see everything I use to help myself get into shape. MyFitnessPal, Exercise.com, Runkeeper and Fitbit are my current most used apps. This allows me to track just about everything I do with great detail. It would be better if I paid for the subscriptions, but I’m too poor for that. I put links to my profiles on that page should anyone feel like following my progress.

Keeping Motivated

If I fail one day, it’s not truly a failure. As long as I work that much harder the next day, any deviation from my goal can be fixed. This is something I’ve seen a lot of people suffer from. Sometimes people will get so upset at themselves that they wind up saying, “To hell with it” and give up. View each day as an individual instance and keep working on meeting your objectives tomorrow.

I am fairly excited about next week. Although statistically I should only lose three pounds, I am shooting for more. We’ll see how everything goes. I will dictate progress every day so that others can see what I have done to accomplish my goals. And yes, I will be writing a daily log in full. Here’s to a healthy start for March and to looking like a super hero come Halloween!

Michael Brockbank

Michael is a work at home father who has completed a wide assortment of writing regarding various topics. Currently, he is working to achieve a weight loss goal and improve health in order to cross the state of Colorado on bicycle.